Pitch's Reign
by The Blue Dragon Princess
Summary: Pitch won the war against the guardians, and 100 years later in his world of darkness and fear, the guardians are still powerless to stop him. Until, a legend, given to them from the man in the moon long ago, is fulfilled. and "from the ashes of old, a new guardian will rise."
1. The Prophecy

Pitch's Rein

Chapter One: The Prophecy

_Hey guys I am sorry it took so long to post, I wanted to make sure I had a head start on the story so that should I fall behind in writing again I would be able to post a chapter anyway. Thank you for coming to my story your view and support means a lot to me :) well this is my 2ed rise of the guardians story and I was overwhelmed with the response I got to my last one 'The new guardian' so thank you for coming and I hope this story doesn't disappoint. I hope you enjoy! :D_

I didn't want to open my eyes, for fear of what lay beyond, but when the unmistakable smell of burning wood invaded my nose I knew I had to do something. I opened my eyes, rising to a sitting position as I watched the amber flames dance around me, weaving between the trees, consuming the bushes and grass. The flames and sparks reflected in my eyes, as I watched the flames beautiful dance of destruction. Rising to my feet I worried, from where I was I could see a small dark town under the moonlight, and if the fire wasn't put out soon, it would consume every living thing in the village.

Fear should have gripped me, holding me to the spot, but it didn't. To my own surprise, in the blistering heat, I felt calm. Intrigued by the enchanting fire I reached out a hand, seeking its warmth. I don't know what I was thinking as I touched the glittering flame, all I know is what happened afterwards.

It was like a vortex, a large wind and the fire from the entire forest flew to me. Spiraling around me in a tornado and disappearing into my hand. The light blinding me. The swirling flames roared in my ears forming a single word.

_Fajra._

at the time I wasn't sure what it meant, but it felt special, and when I decided to take it as my name it felt...right. Overtime I learned that Fajra is a name meaning fire or fiery in Esperanto, a type of Latin. So I felt it was a good name for me since I couldn't remember what it used to be. Once all of the fire was cleared I thought I saw something flash past me in the shadows, but there was nothing there.

Ten years have passed and I've learned more about fire, I've learned to control it, to create and dim it, I've learned to use it for warmth and light, and for destruction. I see Shadows sometimes, and at night I see dark demon horses flying into the windows of children, sometimes accompanied by a dark figure against the hazy moon...the moon doesn't shine often, there are so many clouds, so much darkness. The daytime barely distinguishable from night. There was always that feeling that I wasn't alone, like I was being followed, that only ceased on nights of the full moon, where I felt like someone was watching over me, protecting me from something. Of course I knew it was my imagination, maybe longing, no one ever saw me, they just passed through me. I never searched the shadows...it's not that I was scared...I just didn't have a death wish.

I made my way, slowly but surely across the world. My last stop being the North Pole. I found a small cabin and walked inside, not bothering to knock knowing that no one would hear me. I found it strange, in the middle of a snow storm, in the North Pole. The one room cabin with a blazing fire was empty. I looked around but there was no one in sight.

"Something's not rig-" I started, cut off when the floor beneath me gave out to a trap door and I found myself sliding down a dark tunnel. I would have screamed had it not startled me so, I couldn't make a sound as I fell through the darkness, landing on my butt in a large room. A man loomed over me, his arms crossed and he was surrounded by Yetis, believe it or not. The man was kind of fat and dressed in red and white.

"Who are you?" He asked me, his gaze threatening.

"Wait, you can see me?" I asked confused, held to my spot by their stares. He raised an eyebrow at me as if my words meant something. He nodded gently in thought, his arms still crossed and his sharp eyes never leaving me.

"As you see me," he said, "Now, who are you?" I tensed, building myself up as I rose to my feet.

"My name is Fajra. Who are you?" I said, it was my turn to eye him suspiciously. Upon looking around I spotted little things in the crowd of yetis that could only be elves. _He can see me, _I thought. _What does that mean? Who is he? _I wondered.

"Are you a spy?" the man asked, ignoring my question.

"What?" I asked his question ridiculous. "A spy for who?"

"For Pitch Black!" he bellowed his belly heaving as he spoke, waving his arms around the room as if it would pull an answer from me.

"Who are you?" I repeated. "Who the hell is Pitch Black, and no." I answered. He stared at me in silence for a moment, his questioning gaze pressing me to see if I was lying.

"Ok." he said finally, his voice oddly cheerful as he smiled, his eyes gleaming with laughter and wonder.

He reached down grabbing me by the arm and with unexpected force pulled me to my feet. Now that I could see him clearly he really wasn't that scary. "Ok everyone she is clear." He said with a thick Russian accent, the Yeti's and elves disbanded. "Make yourself at home!" he cheered taking a tray of cookies from a nearby elf and offering them to me. I shook my head and he began to dig into them eating them quickly before placing the tray of half eaten cookies back on the table. the room was immense, toys littered the room, toy airplanes flew through the room going as high as the skylight, little trains large enough to carry children raced around the room, their whistles blaring as they chugged down the tracks, and in the dead center was a giant globe, dark and void of life, just like outside.

I twisted free of the grasp he had on my forearm and struggled to get his attention.

"Wait, wait, wait!" I called out, pulling to a stop. "Who are you? Why can you see me? Who is Pitch!?" I asked again refusing to budge until he answered. He seemed to look at me confusion crossing his face and he began to laugh, a deep that came from his belly.

"Why, I AM SANTA CLAUS!" he bellowed laughing but I just stared at him confused. His laughing died down and he looked at me sadly.

"I've never heard of you." I said shaking my head. He sighed and looked at me.

"You're kidding right?" he asked laughing hysterically. "That was a good one!" he slapped his knee laughing. And when he noticed I wasn't. "You are kidding right?" I shook my head. He stiffened, and I saw some light leave his joyful eyes disappointed, a few seconds later the spark returned, but I could tell it was forced. "Why I am Santa Claus!" his deep laugh barreled down the caves cheerfully, as if he expected me to recognize it. He froze when I didn't react. "You really don't know me?" he asked, I shook my head again. My short red hair whipping around my freckled face. He sighed motioning for me to follow him into a back room, covered in enchanted ice carvings and toys. "I don't blame you for not knowing. It's not your fault after all. We haven't had a Christmas in almost a century."

"I'm Santa Claus." he repeated flatly. "Guardian of wonder, patron saint of Christmas." I shook my head and something seemed to click or him. "And who are you? What do you mean why can I see you?" he paused considering something before turning to the globe and examining it spinning back to me, slowly as if scared to hurt his back.

"I asked first." I responded crossing my arms, he took a few steps away from me startled.

"How old are you?" he asked and I realized if I didn't answer something he wouldn't be able to answer me.

"16" I said as if I knew for sure.

"And how long have you been 16?" I stared at him in silence for a moment. He couldn't be human if he could see me and he knew I was older. I examined him for a moment before replying.

"About ten years." Santa began to laugh again, his belly heaving until he stopped sounding pained as he hunched over with a hand on his back. "What's so funny?" I asked placing my hands on my hips.

"You are so young, no wonder you don't know anything." he laughed. I pouted and put my hand on my hips.

"I take offence to that!" I said childishly. He reached over ruffling my red hair while laughing. He ignored me and hobbled like an old man over to the console in front of the globe, ready to press a large red button.

"Whoa whoa whoa wait up!" I cried out, stepping in front of him and grabbing his hand. "I want answers." I demanded. "I don't like being left in the dark." my short red hair in voluntarily flicking to life with a small fire. Santa laughed again. "So riddle me this, who is Pitch Black?" I asked one final time.

He ignored me and slammed his hand down on the red button. There was a feeling like an explosion and from the skylight I could see colors flash across the sky, a mythical sight I had once learned was called the aurora borealis. It seemed impossible, one hadn't appeared in over 100 years and the darkness of the world led me to believe I never would.

"What was that all about?" I asked only to be cut off when a hole appeared in the ground. I jumped back my eyes wide as a small little cotton tail bunny leapt from the hole. I gaped at it before sneaking a peek down the hole that stretched down down down like a tunnel vanishing into darkness. The top moved and it shifted shut, causing me to jump startled.

"Oi mate what's all the commotion about?" he asked with a thick Australian accent. I stared at him shocked for a moment as Santa wrapped the bunny into a big bear hug, lifting the little guy off the ground.

"Oh Easter! I'm so happy to see you, look!" he exclaimed pointing to me. I stood awkwardly to the side; I pushed my red bangs out of my eyes and looked at him, unimpressed by the tiny cotton tail bunny.

"Oi, who are you!?" it called out but I just stared at it wide eyed. "Oi If you've got something to say, say it!" he cried out offensively. I guess I could have said something cool or witty like. _Look who's talking fluff ball, _or _don't get all hoppy on me. _...Yes those were lame I know. But cooler than the only thing I managed to say which was.

"You can talk!" I exclaimed, unable to rid my face of the shock.

"Course I can talk ya gumby" he yelled out offended before turning back to Santa. "Who is this child?" he asked Santa, clearly annoyed.

"I'm not a child!" I snapped but they ignored me.

"She's the legend of fire!" Santa exclaimed. "Look at her, look at her hair!" Santa seemed excited and it was quickly spreading to cottontail.

"She's a legend!" the rabbit exclaimed, looking at me curiously.

"Legend, legend." I said growing frustrated. "You keep calling me that I'm not a legend! Legends are myths they don't exist" but once again they ignored me.

"Exactly! And she is a fresh one! You know what that means?" Santa asked him excitedly.

"That I am being completely ignored?" I offered.

"Oh yes! The prophecy is being fulfilled! The time for revolution has come!" the tiny rabbit called out.

_What were they talking about? Legends, talking bunnies, revolution? Next they'll tell me fairies exist. _I thought sarcastically to myself, rolling my eyes and laughing to myself.

"What are you talking about?" I asked. "What do you mean I am a legend?" they both turned to me and Santa got hyper again.

"Legends my dear are the myths and people who protect and help the children of the world. We bring them joy and help make the world a better place! As a legend you qualify to be a guardian!" he exclaimed excitedly, wrapping his arm around my shoulders and pointing into the distance with the other as if to express the wonder.

_I'm surrounded by crazy people. A crazy old man nuts from loneliness and I am just hallucinating the bunny because of the cold, yup that's it we are all going crazy and I am out of here. _I thought slipping from the man's grip, As if on Cue a giant fairy came hovering into the room. I stared at it wide eyed watching its flimsy clear wings flutter frantically, I stumbled back in shock.

"Being a legend is wonderful." she added into the conversation, barely picking up what was going on. Her voice and movements reminded me of a preppy happy girl from school. "Seeing children smile and hearing them laugh. Watching them celebrate when they see you." she smiled warmly.

"You make it sound like it's a great job." a voice echoed down to us. The bunny and man, who had been smiling excitedly, slowly began to frown, furrowing their brows at the words. I looked around confused until I looked up, seeing a boy about my age with white hair, a blue sweater, and icy blue eyes, carrying a wooden staff in one hand.

_I like this hallucination. _I thought with a smirk as he jumped down landing beside us effortlessly. He examined me before explaining his view of a legend.

"You are stuck protecting people who more than likely don't believe in you, thus can't see you, doing a bunch of lame boring chores." he said casually. "And let's not forget trying to avoid being destroyed by Pitch Black and his minion." he added.

"Jack." Santa muttered with something between a sigh and a growl. Each of them watched me to see my reaction. There was a moment of silence as we all stared at each other.

"Who is this Pitch you all keep talking about?" I asked taking a step back under the pressure of their stares, placing a hand on my hip and standing up taller. The boy looked down with a mixture of depression and disappointment.

"Pitch Black, better known as the Boogie man, is the personification of fear and darkness. He is an incredible evil who locked away long ago and the world experienced what was known as the golden ages. Where humans lived freely, their technology prospered and life boomed. However, a little less than a century ago, Pitch broke free, we tried to stop him...but we failed. He has returned the world to its dark and gloomy years where humans live in fear. They no longer experience courage, or wonder, fun or happiness. It's the return of the dark ages." Santa Claus explained. Jack kicked at a fallen toy, angry, I'm guessing about their defeat.

"But the man in the moon told us of a new legend, one who would turn the tide and be the downfall of Pitch." The bunny said leaping over to me excitedly. Jack looked back at me I could see his curiosity growing in his eyes.

"_When all is dark and hope is lost, fear will rein and all is lost. But from the embers of the past, the flames of fire and destructions last, a hero will rise to overcast. Defeat the shadow and face the fear, and evil's end will draw near._" Santa quoted. They all stared at me and I stumbled back losing my composure under their gazes.

"Wait, wait." I stared at them. "Whoa whoa hold up, you don't think it means me do you?" they nodded and I took another step back, raising my hands up as if telling them to stop. "What makes you think it means me!" I exclaimed.

"_From the embers of the past._ It has to be about you and your fire." Santa said knowingly. I didn't know how to reply to that.

"What do ya say mate. Will ya help us?" I stared at the bunny and took a step back.

_They all expected me to help them fight some ancient evil...ME! Ok this has to be a dream or a hallucination or something. _At this point I knew something was wrong at me. Even the cute boy was flying; there was a crazy old man who lived with yetis and elves, a talking bunny, and a giant fairy who could barely fly. each of the hallucinations stared at me awaiting my answer, and despite my sanity telling me that the floor in the cabin had probably given out and I was passed out in the snow and this was all a dream, I had to remember, I could fly, I could fire bend and turn into fire...maybe these guys weren't crazy and I just found people like me (which means I belong with a group of weirdoes.) while I stared at them, their eyes almost pleading, that's when the words sort of slipped out.

"Sure." Shocked by my own words, I agreed, I don't know what I was thinking, this was all obviously insane! However as mentioned before my life was already insane on a number of levels. They smiled at me, cheering happily as if they just made a touchdown.

Santa and the bunny hi-fived while the fairy got really excited. However Jack just smiled and shook his head before turning away. Walking off and disappearing to sit on some ledge outside. Santa and the bunny began frantically filling the fairy in, and while they were talking, I couldn't stop myself from following Jack outside. I found him atop a high ice covered ledge overlooking the frozen wasteland known as the North Pole.


	2. Their Story

Chapter 2: Their Story

_Hey guys, sorry it took so long to update I wanted to space it out a bit. Anyway I hope you enjoy I know I am probably letting a bunch of you down this isn't my best work (hell even that isn't that great) but I hope you enjoy anyway __ please read and review!_

"Hey," I greeted sitting down beside him. My body melting the ice under me. He glanced at me but for the most part ignored me. I sighed and looked out over the ice, so cold, plain, boring yet with the setting sun painting it orange, red and pink it was somehow beautiful.

"So you're gonna help us defeat Pitch." Jack said with a snort.

"Yea, what of it?" I asked glancing at him out of the corner of my eye.

"Nothing." he said with a shake of his head, looking back over the ice. He didn't look at me but I could tell he was smiling, trying not to laugh.

"What's so funny?" I asked a little confused, his light mood cheering me for some reason, making me happy.

"It's been so long, and we weren't enough and now some stranger we don't even know walks in and suddenly everyone is ready to rebel and fight again." He let out a chuckle "It's kinda funny relying on someone we don't even know to help us win a war." I smirked, he was right, after all a few moments ago I had tried convincing myself they were all hallucinations. "...But even so...I feel It." he said quietly, suddenly serious. I turned and stared at him. Taken back a little. "Pitch has ruled too long and I'm ready to show him that the guardians are back." I didn't say anything; I wasn't sure what to say, so for a moment we just sat in silence.

"What happened?" I blurted out, wishing I had thought of a more graceful way to say it. "In the last war I mean..." Jack sighed staring into the distance in a daze.

"Pitch and his minions attacked the tooth palace; they stole every tooth and took every fairy."

"Tooth palace?" I cut in confused. He stared at me a in a bit of shock, his mouth quickly twisting into a smile.

"You really are new aren't you." he said as if finally accepting the fact. I nodded shyly, feeling slow for not knowing. He sighed before telling me. "Tooth palace was the tooth fairies home, her little fairies would travel to homes each night and collect the fallen teeth from children that they stored under their pillows, leaving a coin or reward in its place."

"What's the point of that? They are just teeth." I said wondering why anyone would want teeth.

"Baby teeth hold memories, when an adult needs to be reminded of their childhood the fairies would bring them their teeth and remind them of their roots." I nodded deep in thought as Jack trailed off looking depressed. I glanced at him and cocked my head.

"Are you telling me there are hundreds more of those fairy girls out there?" Jack actually gave a quick burst of laughter.

"Oh God no." he said so only I could hear. "These things were tiny and didn't talk." I smiled and nodded trying to imagine the world with a hundred tooth fairies, chuckling at the idea. I stared off in a daze for a moment. "What's on your mind?" He asked me curiously, cocking his head in wonder.

"I don't remember my past." I said dreamily. "Do you think if I find my teeth I can remember my life?" I asked hopefully staring at him. He nodded his smile fading as he began to stare off into the distance again obviously becoming upset at a thought.

"So What? You guys lost because of some teeth?" I said trying to bring him back to reality. Jack sighed and shook his head sadly.

"The teeth were only the beginning. Not only did we have the teeth problem but without the fairies children were waking up to find only their teeth, they stopped believing. That made her weaker. At first she couldn't fly at all, eventually we helped her but she can only fly for a little while before her wings give out. Look at the Easter bunny; he used to be kangaroo seized rabbit, now he's a little cotton tail. After Pitch took the teeth, he took Easter. We tried to make eggs for the children to hunt but I left to return a little girl to her home, but I heard a voice calling my name. Rather than return to the others...I followed it, drawn like a moth to a flame...or a mouse to a trap." I stared at Jack intently his mood dropping with each word and memory.

For him this must have been traumatic, watching this evil rise, and I began to pity him.

"I followed the voice to Pitch's lair where I found piles of teeth, I didn't remember my life at the time so I searched for mine, but he knew I would come he planned on it actually. He talked to me stalled for time as he gave me my teeth...just gave them to me. I returned to the others but it was too late, every last egg was smashed, without me they couldn't defend against the attack. They saw the teeth and thought I had conspired with Pitch and for a while they shunned me. That's when I visited him, and I made a very bad choice. I would give him my staff in exchange for one of the fairies...and I did. He broke the staff and threw both of us down a hole in the ice along with the fragmented staff. I gave up, I'd failed."

"I looked through my memories and I felt revived, I had died by saving my little sister from the ice. So I pieced together my staff and took off to try and fight Pitch...but I was too late. We lost the battle, along with a good friend." I struggled to maintain a gasp; the idea that they're used to be another one of them startled me. "The Sandman, possibly the only one who could rival Pitch, was lost to darkness." I stared at him sadly. "After that we were done for, we tried a few more attempts but once Pitch wiped out believers...our powers failed." neither of us made a sound for a few moments, waiting in silence.

"I'm sorry for your loss." I said quietly, but he didn't look at me.

"That's why we have to defeat Pitch this time, humans can't even leave their homes without fear of darkness, worrying what lay in shadows, they see his nightmares but not us...That was devastating to the others." he told me. "But I was never believed in so I'm the only one whose powers didn't suffer." I nodded in understanding, remembering the demon horses I would see at night.

"I don't know what I can do to help you." I admitted rising to my feet, leaving a puddle of boiling water where I had been sitting. "But I'll do whatever I can." I added giving him a sad smile. He looked up at me, giving me a weak smile of his own. Momentarily my heart stopped, and I got jittery trying my best not to blush. I mentally cursed myself for feeling like a teenage girl. We clasped hands and I helped him to his feet. We glanced at each other as if silently communicating as we walked back to the others. They looked up at us and Tooth fairy wrapped me in a tight hug, speaking so fast it was more of a hum. I stared around a little confused, still distracted by what Jack had told me.

"Thank you so much!" she exclaimed before turning back and talking excitedly with the others. I felt awkward not understanding what they meant about becoming a guardian. I tried to sneak off again but Santa grabbed me by the shoulder. Pulling me back in.

"Where are you going? The ceremony is about to begin!" he exclaimed happily.

"Ceremony?" I asked. Tooth fairy and rabbit looked excited while Jack smiled, laughing to himself as he leaned uncaring against the wall. His hair falling casually on his forehead. The little elves began to play trumpets that made them seem so adorable, Santa hummed along, bobbing his head gleefully back and forth with the rhythm. Blasts of confetti shot all around me and I jumped a little startled, the yetis behind me pushed me back into place, giving me room to read. Santa held out a book to me, pretending to hum a heavenly tune as if the book was a gift from God himself. I stared down at it for a moment, it was a contract.

_I, _ hereby accept the title and responsibility of being a guardian to protect the humans and children of the earth from all dark or evil forces. To forever listen to the Man in the moon and fight for him and other fellow legends._

I stared at it for a moment. Was this a joke? This pathetic sentence of a contract was such a big deal to these people?

"Go ahead sign it." Santa urged happily as the elves began to run out of breath while the Yetis on drums continued to drown them out. I reached for the feather quill, hesitating ever so slightly to pick it up...and before I could...something went wrong.

There was a blast of chill air that blew through the entire chamber. The pages in the book turned, flashing pages of text before my eyes. The toys and papers all around the room flew into the air, flying around the room in the forming tornado. We all gasped and turned to the giant globe that stood in the center of the room, the others tensed and took battling positions as an evil laugh pierced through the roaring wind, and black smoke began to fill the room with darkness.

"Pitch!" came Jack's growl, but he had vanished, pulled away from me into the darkness, shrouded by shadows as well as the others. From across the room. The tooth fairy squealed, little more than a whisper in the chaos. After a few seconds the wind calmed down, but the smoke did not. It lingered heavily in the room, making it impossible to see through the darkness.

_So this is Pitch's power._ I thought taking a mental note, trying not to let my fear show.

"Guardians." the voice boomed through the room, somewhat laughing before sinking into a serious if not hateful tone. "It's been a while. Having fun in my world?" it taunted evilly.

"Pitch!" Santa yelled out angrily, his voice booming with power. "Just you wait Pitch, we will defeat you!" he growled back.

"With what?" he asked humor seeping into his tone. "A little girl? HA, you have sunken to a new low and will be defeated just as miserably as last time." he sneered I gritted my teeth.

_A little girl? _The words angered me.

"Oi! You'll see! Just as prophecy foretells she'll defeat you." the bunny called out in my defense.

"If your precious man in the moon could really help you don't you think he would have already, don't you think he would have helped poor little Sandy." Pitch sneered; the others gritted their teeth pained at the loss of their friend and without a comeback. "You are all pathetic all of you are just-" he cut off when I began to glow. I didn't mean to, I don't even know what I did. But my body, my hair it ignited and released a warm light that began to push against the darkness, gently at first then clearing the area around me. "What's this?" Pitch asked sounding intrigued. The others stared at me somewhat amazed, my hair automatically lifting in a blaze without my instruction. Back then I didn't understand it either.

"See that!" Jack called out to Pitch. "We can fight you, we can defeat you." he said, the hope in his eyes rising as the light pushed all of the smoke in the room out, lighting the entire room with a warm light. I heard Pitch let out a frustrated growl, quickly masking it with a smug tone.

"Is that so? Look at your globe, it's dark and dead. Not a single soul on earth believes in any of you. Just try and defeat me without their help. Little Fajra is a weak newborn, and trust me when I say she cannot help you." The voice fell silent and the presence lifted from the room, leaving me steaming with anger.

_Little girl? Weak? Newborn? Little! _I replayed the words in my mind, my anger rising. If I hadn't been dragged into it already I was at that point.

"Pitch?" Tooth called out, answered by silence. They all sighed, their muscles relaxing very little, their attention quickly turning to me.

"How did you do that mate?" Bunnymund asked I stuttered for a moment before just shrugging.

"I don't know." they all smiled at me, realizing exactly how much of a chance they were just given, though I myself didn't understand.

"Well come on then!" Santa exclaimed grabbing a snow globe from the counter. "Pitch is going to be contemplating his next move! trying to figure out your power, this is our chance to move!" he shook the glass orb and tossed it like a grenade, grabbing me and Tooth by the arm and diving into the portal that opened, Bunny and Jack following behind.

It felt like I fell for a mile, my body pinching and twisting and twirling with every curve, as we tumbled down. When we stumbled out of the other portal bunny shook out his fur as if unsettled by the ride.

"It used to be so much more fun with my sleigh." Santa muttered under his breath before letting me and tooth fairy go, stretching painfully as if his back hurt and taking the lead ahead of us. Tooth struggled to stay aloft for a moment before lowering herself to the ground, running a tender hand gently along her wings before walking carefully as if it was still strange to her. Bunny was fast, he hopped beside me as we walked down a street; however I wasn't too sure we could rely on him for anything other than running. I stumbled behind a little until I was walking beside Jack.

"Why are we here? Where are we?" I whispered to him.

"Just a street." he informed with a bit of a shrug, excitement lighting his eyes. "Doesn't really matter where we go, in a few moments the horses are going to come, and that's when we'll make our stand." I nodded it was a simple plan but it should be enough to get the ball rolling. Darkness fell with night and shadows loomed through the land. I clenched my hands into fists taking in the chill night air.

That's when my first nightmare came from the shadows.

First one, then another and another and another, it didn't stop until there were too many to count and they stampeded towards us. A dark figure rose above them, dark against the cloudy night sky, riding the largest one as if it were no more than a tamed horse. I stared at the stampede, the panic pinning me to the ground. A smile pierced the face of the figure above me as it stared down at me excitedly. Within moments the hundreds of horses were upon us.

And my first battle begun.


	3. Stepping Stone

Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Stepping Stone

_For those of you wondering why I always have an OC for Jack instead of Tooth it's because that's actually my OC's original point LOL I don't like Tooth x Jack lol sorry if that sounds Mary sue, I am trying to not make it Mary sue but...it's nonnegotiable to me lol I try not to turn it into a romance fic but I want a little in there._

At first I wasn't sure I was up for a fight since I couldn't bring myself to move, but without thinking I flung myself up into the air. Transformed like a spark of fire, only to reform 10 feet above the ground. I saw children rushing to their windows fearfully, seeing the horses, and closing their windows; a few just froze watching the horses. That's when they saw me.

Well not really me for say, but my fire. I flung out my arms, not really sure of what I was doing just that I had to do something. I unleashed a barrage of fire onto the nightmares below, each flame shattering a monster and letting it crumple into black sand. Many of them blowing away in the night wind. The figure above stopped smiling as children stared in awe rubbing their eyes and reopening them, watching my image flare momentarily before it disappeared in their unbelieving eyes. below me the rest of the nightmares advanced, Santa had twin swords but it looked as if he was having trouble lifting them, bunny was trying to take on as many horses as he could but his little kicks did nothing to the horses that were seemingly infinitely bigger than him, Tooth was finding it hard to stay aloft, managing for only a moment before falling to the ground and stepping away until she was back to back with Santa, they exchanged worried looks.

Jack was the only one who seemed to be doing well, he destroyed nightmares with waves of ice, freezing them into statues and sending them toppling over and shattering them. Worried for the other's I unleashed another ray of fire, a little more in control this time. It washed over the area around them, leaving their silhouettes dark against the bright fire. I saw a few children gasp at the sight of the light filled night, and based on all the eyes that were drawn I could only assume that they began to actually see me as well as the others.

I saw Jack look around at their little faces shocked, marveling at their awed expressions. The other guardians looked around as well, watching light come to the children's eyes. I was foolish, I watched the children and guardians, fire still blasting from my hands, I was so distracted I didn't notice the distant figure come closer until we collided, flames danced before my eyes as we plummeted to the ground, twisting and tumbling as we fell, landing with a thud like thunder.

I moaned rubbing my head as I scooted to a sitting position, looking up to see another girl doing the same. I was taken back, startled for a moment. She grit her teeth and upon seeing me jumped to her feet, her long red hair blazing with fire. She took a step back, and staring at me maliciously her hands caught fire, and she prepared to attack, startled I scrambled to my feet, barely avoiding a blast of fire; I could feel the heat from it which startled me. I turned and looked at her, her slim body angled and tensed ready to fight.

_Who the hell is this! _I thought frantically.

"So this is the famed Fraja." She sneered unimpressed, resting a hand on her hip, and looking down disapprovingly at me. "You don't look anything like a hero." a devilish smirk played across her lips. Something in her voice brought the courage out of me and I stood up, equally disapproving.

"And who do you think you are?" I asked placing hand on my hip and glaring at her. "At least I'm big enough where you know my name." I stole her smirk, leaving her to frown at me. We glared at each other for a moment. The air tense and we were both ready to fight. It didn't feel the same as fighting the nightmares; this girl triggered something in me that made me _want _to fight.

"I'm Layla," she said flatly. "And you really let the power get to your head if you're this arrogant." she said as if her words were supposed to burn me. No pun intended.

"I don't have half the ego you do." I replied with a smirk. We probably could have gone at it forever, like the preppy girl and the weirdo going at it in the school hallway. But she cut out conversation short, unleashing a wave of fire. Before I could react, Jack was in the way, he dove onto me, tackling me until we were both on the ground and out of harm's way.

"Oh look at my precious little Jack; it's been awhile hasn't it. 10 years." Layla said with that devilish smile of hers as she watched Jack rise to his feet and I was suddenly intimidated by her perfect body. I stood up, a hand on my hip and I saw Jack stiffen and open his mouth to respond to Layla but I cut him off.

"Who's the arrogant one again?" I asked, "Because you seem pretty vein to me." I added with a laugh. She shot me a glare, and if looks could kill, I would be dead. Jack gave out his signature smirk, loving the attention this gave him until I turned on him, my cheeks as red as my fire. "And what are you smirking at!" I shrieked. He snickered shaking his head. _Oh God, what had this girl done to me, within seconds I was acting like a totally different person? _I glared at Layla for another moment.

"Enough talk." she grinned, a look that was positively evil on her perfect face. She set fire to her hands. "I'm here for the fight!" and in a heartbeat she was in the air, barreling towards me. I threw my arms up, forming an X I set them aflame and blocked her, intercepting her fire with mine.

"You're stronger than I thought." she growled as we pressed against each other, out fires canceling out. I grinned.

"Really? I was about to say the opposite." her eyes narrowed to slits as she swung her arm around, forcing me to duck just in time to avoid the blow to the face. I jumped back as she advanced, forcing me to retreat. Her attacks becoming more and more vicious, until I could barely keep up, panic crossing my eyes causing her to smirk.

"DIE!" she shrieked as she lunged into the air, only to be frozen midair by Jack who was a few paces behind her, his breathing frantic. It must have taken a lot of power to freeze a fire legend. Layla kicked and struggled, her legs and fists pounding painfully on the thick ice. "RELEASE ME!" she screeched, her anger rising rapidly, and her temperature with it.

"I think we should get going." Jack said, making his way to my side as we spotted the first drops of melted ice trickle down the ice.

"Um, Yea." I said hurriedly as we turned, dashing down the street. A sound like shattering glass following shortly after. Jack and I exchanged looks and he reached out a hand, ready to help me leap into the air with him and run. But I denied it. I flashed out of sight, transforming myself into the very spark of which ignites a flame and spiraled up into the air. Reappearing 10 feet above the ground in a heartbeat. He quickly followed, carried on a cold wind. Layla not far behind, she had already plunged herself into the air, and with fire to boost her, rocketed towards us. Jack and I threw fire and ice at her but were unable to slow her down. She raised her arm, reaching out for me, her hand about to wrap around my ankle when suddenly a large boomerang slammed into her side, throwing her to the ground.

_What? _I thought, using my eyes to follow the boomerang to its owner, a large furry kangaroo. _...What the f*** just happened... _Jack smiled, lazily saluting the Kangaroo as we dropped down beside them. _Who is that? _I wondered, looking around and seeing Santa energized and swinging his swords with vigor as he made his way to our side. Tooth fairy who was flying effortlessly over to us..._Then this must be..._

"Nice shot bunny!" Santa called out and my jaw dropped. Bunny chuckled upon seeing me.

"Oi mate, there a problem?" he asked, chuckling at my expression.

"But-but-but...you were a rabbit..." I said stuttering out my shock, causing him to laugh harder.

"But you're fire was visible and it battled the nightmares, you made believers for all of us...and that power can be incredible." he finished with a smirk. Looking at the children still staring at us wide eyed from the windows.

Layla rose to her feet, rubbing her head from impact. She growled looking up at us and the children.

"GO AWAY!" she screamed at them, throwing fire at the windows forcing the children to shut them and vanish into their rooms, I could feel their fear, I could feel it spreading to me, clouding my mind and making my heart race.

_The children _I thought worried, flinging myself into the air intercepting part of the fire, but I was too late, the other houses were already burning. The flames dancing against the night sky, spreading house to house until the whole block was aflame. _Stop her! _My mind shrieked and I raced forward, sliding to a stop in front of her. She glared at me, her eyes unsettling as she began to smirk. I shrugged back, unable to keep my cool under her gaze. There was something strange about her, her eyes seemed to search mine until she found something she liked, and she began to laugh.

"I love the fear in your eyes." Layla laughed harder, chuckling to a stop. "You're pathetic." she added still smiling. We launched towards each other, sparks flying with each touch, our fires canceling and blocking each other. We stumbled away from each other, both out of breath. She seemed confused; I could see her mind working, trying to figure me out.

"What's wrong?" I asked. "You're fire dimming already?" I sneered.

"Like you're any better." she hissed, she was obviously more skilled but I was somehow hanging in there. The guardians gathered around us, the number of nightmares on the street where drastically reduced and the fire still rampaging. I stumbled away from Layla, weak from the surge of power I had felt as I fought her. Jack came up beside me, placing a hand gently on my arm to keep me balanced, worry plastered across his face. The other guardians gathered around and she took a step backwards, tensing.

"Layla..."Santa muttered, already braced as if expecting a fight.

"Guardians." Layla growled, seeing their returned power no matter how slim. "I must leave now." she hissed, her voice like a sizzling fire as she rose up into the air. "But I will be back...make no mistake about that." and like that she was gone, transformed into a spark and carried through the air just like me. The nightmares reared and turned tail, vanishing into the night sky, and everything was silent except the roaring fire. Jack was the first to act. He flung himself into the air and used his staff to shower the flames in ice and snow, making very little progress all together. I rushed forward with the last of my energy, flinging myself into the air at the center of the block. I took a deep breath and then another, breathing in the smoke that passed through my lungs like nothing.

It started in my mind, carefully imagining the fire bending and swaying in rhythm with my breathing. The gentle sways growing steadily larger until it reached me, and carefully I absorbed the fire, cautious and unsure of the foreign fire. I breathed in the hot fire, and breathed out cool night air. Once the fire reached me everything happened at once. It was like the fire was glass, and I cracked it. The crack racing down the street and shattering the fire until it fell to the ground in harmless ash.

I fell to the ground, Jack and the Tooth fairy working together to lower me gently to the ground. I leaned heavily on Jack, my last feat stealing my leftover energy. We all looked around the silent street, at the guardians who had already regained a fragment of their previous power. Jack couldn't help himself; he shook with excitement as he thrust his staff into the air. Snow beginning to fall lightly around us, covering the ash. The first snow fall in ages, marked our first victory against the boogieman. I couldn't contain my excitement. I wasn't very sure why, I never even met Pitch before, I guess at the time I couldn't comprehend the extent of our actions. All I knew is that we had just won a battle, and victory never tasted so sweet.


	4. Planning Pitch's Defeat

Chapter 4

Planning Pitch's Defeat

hey guys! i am running out of emergency chapters! O_O thats not a good thing lol but i have spring break coming so i am hoping to get more done in that time. hence this chapter i am giving out of kindness lol. also coming up i might soon have 2 dr who fanfictions and a my little pony fanfiction...yes i am coming out with it i am a geeky fan of my little pony XD hey the fandom alone is worth it XD if you would like any information on those you should PM me or leave it in the review. but for now, rise of the guardians :) i hope you enjoy please review :D

The snow fell gently for a moment, then I did something I'd never done before...I fell asleep. As a legend of fire I guess they would call it, I never needed to sleep before, but this time I passed out, something from the battle just exhausted me. It wasn't pleasant. I was greeted with darkness followed by a nightmare. A tall dark figure loomed in the distance, his face hidden in shadow. A candle was all that lit the dark dungeon like room and when the candle flickered, he would get closer and closer until he was close enough I could make out his face and see the evil grin he had. I don't know why I didn't move, why I didn't run. But I know I was frozen for some reason or another. He reached out a long skeletal arm and rested it on my head, that's when I screamed, experiencing true fear with the audio of his evil laugh in the background.

I opened my eyes to find myself lying on a stiff cot, surrounded by guardians. I groaned as I pulled myself into a sitting position.

"What happened? Where am I?" I asked, breathing heavily. They were by my side in a heartbeat, and I realized they must have been worried about me. Jack placed a hand on the small of my back as if expecting me to fall over, my skin jittering at his touch.

"Ye had a nightmare mate." Bunny answered, glancing behind him as if checking on something before responding to me. "We are at the North Pole, we panicked when you fainted mate." I nodded slowly in understanding. Taking a deep breath to slow my rapid heart rate.

"Are you alright Fajra?" Tooth asked, worry plastered across her face. I nodded again.

"Just a nightmare." I said, almost as if to reassure myself as much as them. I put a hand to my pounding head, closing my eyes to try and make my headache go away. suddenly there was a crash from somewhere behind Santa, my eyes shot open and I looked past him, seeing a miniature demon horse evading the yetis and elves, it neighed as it knocked over another vase that shattered with a sound like thunder to my hurting head. It was my nightmare the demon sent to give me my dream. I groaned still careful of my headache as I raised an arm, launching a precisely aimed fireball to destroy it. Causing the Yeti's and elves to leap away from it and the burn mark it left. The other guardian's just stared at me.

"What?" I asked, pressed under their stares.

"We couldn't defeat it, it just wouldn't go away." Santa said staring at me surprised.

"We hit it with everything we had, but nothing worked, and it wasn't attacking." Tooth added, staring at me just as surprised. The black dust drifted on a wind from the shelf, floating carelessly out the window.

"It's returning to Pitch..." Santa observed uneasily.

"Should we stop it?" I asked, my brow furrowing in concern.

"I don't think we could if we tried." Santa admitted as we watched the sand blow from the window. I took a deep breath and almost fell back onto the small itchy pillow as if Santa had taken it from a hospital. I sighed finally relaxed.

"What happened?" I asked.

"You exhausted the last of your power on that last stunt. You passed out, thankfully Layla didn't return." Santa informed, placing a tray of cookies between all of us to eat from. No one touched them. I jolted remembering.

"Layla!" I exclaimed startled.

"Hold on, calm down ya Gumby." Bunny said "She's nothing to worry about."

"Who is she?" I asked looking up at Jack. Not remembering her in the story he had told me.

"She is Pitch's henchman, his apprentice." Jack said with a sigh. "She didn't come in until almost the end of the war. She died in a fire and when she woke up as a legend Pitch was right there, weather it was on purpose or coincidence. He introduced her to the world and twisted her mind. He turned her against us and she became the turning point of the war. She destroyed the last few children who believed..." He trailed off and the others fell silent and I felt a lump catch in my throat.

"Since then she's become somewhat a partner to Pitch, using his darkness to enhance her powers. That's why even as a newborn spirit she was so strong." Bunny added sadly. After a moment of silence I couldn't stop my question from slipping off my tongue.

"What happened?...after the war I mean."

"We were forced to run, to hide." Santa said his usually cheerful voice was depressingly emotionless.

"We retreated to our hideouts, there wasn't much we could do." Tooth said hopelessly.

"What about your baby teeth?" I asked before I could stop myself, immediately regretting it seeing the sorrow it brought her as she shriveled up, wrapping herself in a hug. Bunny placed a large paw on her back to comfort her giving me a harsh glare that I shrunk behind.

"Pitch still has them." she said weakly, her voice barely above a whisper. I looked over at Jack who removed his arm, moving to comfort Tooth who waved them all away, wiping her tears to show she was alright.

"What about you Jack?" I asked knowing that he didn't have a headquarters the way the others had. He shrugged.

"I wandered around, sometimes I still rebel against them. I need to keep moving or else I'll get caught."

"Jack I didn't know you still fought against Pitch." Santa said in his heavy Russian accent.

"I don't, usually he just sends _**Layla**_to do his dirty work." Jack grumbled upset, as if he wasn't important enough for Pitch to fight himself. I pressed my lips together, concealing the rest of my questions.

_For an enemy she __**really **__seemed into Jack. _I thought bitterly, remembering the lust in Layla's eye when she saw him. I pondered for a moment, realizing how something within me had clicked and I felt different around her as if she had a special presence or I met her before. I shrugged it off. I rose to my feet, giving Tooth an apologetic glance.

"So, what now?" I asked. They all exchanged glances.

"Good question." Santa said an idea sparking in his eyes before he quickly led us down to the main room, the large room full of yetis and elves and toys and excitement and the dark globe in the center. I was shocked to see lights flickering in and out. I stared at it in wonder.

"Ah, they are starting to believe again!" Santa said dramatically, waving his arms to the monstrous sphere.

"It's because something finally fended off the nightmares." Tooth said a smile returning to her.

"So what's this idea of yours?" I asked walking up behind Santa.

"Layla is on the run." he said cheerfully, savoring the feeling that came with the words. "I say we follow up on that punch, we find Pitch and KABAM! Defeat him once and for all!"

"Don't ya think we are biting off a little more than we can chew mate?" Bunnymund asked, hopping over with a series of thuds. Santa shrugged.

"We have our chosen one." North said simply. "She can defeat him."

"He's right!" Tooth added, the man in the moon can't be wrong she's the one to destroy Pitch." she said her winds buzzing her through the air as she spoke.

"We don't have much time." the Kangaroo said. "The lights are only flickering, they'll give us a chance but if we don't act fast they'll lose hope again."

"Then let's get planning!" Santa exclaimed using a giant tattooed arm to clear his desk, shoving everything a yeti had just organized to the floor causing the yeti to whimper and fall to his knees in frustrated defeat. Santa pulled out a map and some paper, muttering plans with Bunnymund about where and what. Tooth pitching ideas occasionally. Meanwhile I slipped away, flying up and slipping silently through the skylight window, sitting myself down on the icy ledge I had once found Jack on. Staring out onto the ice I could see the full moon reflected. Glittering across the dark ice. In a way it looked evil, with the moon as the only beacon of light, of hope.

"Ya know, I knew I would find you here." a voice said behind me and I heard bare feet walk up behind me.

"Hello Jack." I said quietly, not in the mood to talk. He sat down beside me silently, he tapped his staff to the ice, making useless trails of ice and frost around us.

"What's on your mind?" he asked.

"Nothing." I said flatly. He gave me one of his signature smirks and re-gripped his staff.

"Hey come on." he said, poking me on the shoulder with it. "You can tell me." I sighed.

"I just don't think I'm ready." I said, curling myself into a ball, my usual flair and confidence gone, remembering the sheer number of nightmares. Jack shifted, resting a cold hand comfortingly on my shoulder.

"...I'm not going to tell you there's nothing to be afraid of." he said, his honesty shocking me to look into his icy blue eyes. "But I think you're ready, you defeated Layla fairly easily." he said and I ripped my green eyes from his.

"But I don't even know what I did." I whined.

"You drove Pitch's darkness from the globe." he ventured.

"With a power I didn't know I had." I said reminding him I hadn't meant to do anything. He stared at me more intensely. Taking my chin in hand and forcing me to look at him.

"You made believers out of poor broken children." he said his voice kind but firm and I found myself hypnotized by his eyes. Golden embers seemed to flare in my hazel eyes and he leaned in closer and I let him, until both of us spun away, my cheeks flaming.

"I think we should go outside." I said quickly mumbling something about it being cold despite the fact that didn't bother either of us.

"Yea," he agreed "the others are probably waiting." he said and I could see him trying to shake off a haze as we rose to our feet separately making our way inside. Seeing the other three guardians crowded around a floor plan.

"Did you figure something out?" Jack asked. Santa spun to us both, wrapping us both in a huge bear hug.

"Did we?" Bunny exclaimed from behind him. North pulled back, yelling excitedly and motioning to each of us as he told us his plan.

"We'll go to Pitch's hide out and Jack, you and Tooth will free the fairies, who will then grab the teeth and fly to tooth palace to wait for us. Bunny and I will lead you, Fajra to Pitch with this map and wait for the others to catch up, when they do we will burst in and defeat Layla and Pitch!" he called out, his enthusiasm spreading to the rest of us. Jack and I smiled while Tooth spiraled through the air.

"I can't believe I will finally have my fairies back!" she cried out.

"What do you say Fajra are you ready?" he asked. Despite my doubt I agreed. Immediately looking away from his big eyes. Feeling as if I let them down in both my lack of confidence, and my lie, and just like that we were off.

Using a mix of magic portals, tunnels, and flying we reached the entrance to pitch's headquarters. A hole underneath a broken skeleton of a bed. Jack remembered it from the last time he had faced Pitch alone.

"It's not really something you can forget." he told me. "After all it's why I strayed from the plan. Why Easter was destroyed..." he said sounding defeated again.

We entered a dark labyrinth of tunnels. I flared up, lighting the way for us to see as we made our way through the darkness. Before long we came to a large open room, cages hung from the ceiling, filled with small silent fairies. Upon seeing them Tooth shot up into the sky, clinging onto the cage, Jack following close behind her.

"Hey you alright baby teeth?" he asked and the cage lit to life with jittering buzzing green fairies excited to see their savors. Tooth opened the first cage of many sending them down to the pile of golden cased teeth on the floor. Each fairy picking up a container.

"Go to Tooth palace." Tooth muttered quickly to them. "We will be there to meet you shortly." she said bustling to the next cage as did Jack.

"Come on." Santa said, roughly grabbing my shoulder and urging me forward. I led him and Bunny through a series of tunnels and halls, leaving scorch marks along the wall so Tooth and Jack could find us, labeling which ways were dead ends. We encountered more dead ends than I would have liked. But other than that we found no problems, no nightmares, no Pitch and thankfully no _Layla. _ I thought bitterly.

_Pitch seriously can't be all that powerful. _I thought easing my mind. _I mean this is a piece of cake if he were as strong as they say there would be traps...that's what any wise person would do. _I thought. _We'll be done in no time. _We found another large room and I traced my finger along the wall as we waited for the others to catch up. It didn't take long before they burst in.

"How did things go?" Santa asked them.

"Everything's great the fairies are free." Jack said with a brilliant smile.

"Great!" North exclaimed.

"Quite!" Bunny hissed. "Pitch should be just beyond that door ya Gumby! Do ya want him to know we're here?"

_Shouldn't he know...we weren't exactly quite coming in... _I thought regretfully. But before I could ponder the subject North and Bunny had finished their argument and were pressing me towards the door.

It swung open for me and we stormed in to find Layla and Pitch standing as if they were waiting for us.

"Ah, Guardians, how nice of you to join us." Pitch said nonchalantly. Motioning around with his hands. Layla's eyes met mine and sparks seemed to leap between us intensifying the tension as we challenged each other before she looked away.

"You don't wanna get cocky Pitch." Bunny spat. "This is Fajra and she'll defeat you." I did my best to take on a fighting position though I am pretty sure I just looked like I didn't know what I was doing. Pitch snickered.

"I'm so scared of the little girl." Pitch mocked. "Well come on now, defeat Me." he urged. "Show me your famed power." Layla smirked evilly at me, as if she knew something. There was a moment of silence and no one moved, and Pitch chuckled, joined by Layla the room filled with their dark evil laughs.

"Well, go on Fajra." Bunny urged me. "Show him whose boss." he said confusion and questioning in his voice as he spoke, barely audible over the laughter. I didn't speak or move for another moment, until finally I came clean.

"I don't know how."


	5. Pith's Test

Chapter 5

Pitch's Test

i didn't want to post until i had more chapters done but today is my birthday so i decided to give you guys a present :) here ya go i know this story is kinda sucky but well i hope you enjoy it anyway. :)

Pitch and Layla laughed harder and the faces of the guardians paled.

"What do ya mean 'you don't know'?" Bunny asked. "You're the chosen one it's up to you!" he cried out almost angry as he leapt to face me. I bit my lip finding it hard to face him. "Hey ya Gumby answer me!" he said grabbing my collar with a fury fist. He looked into my eyes and saw just how little I knew.

"You are supposed to fight him!" Tooth said her jaw dropping.

"Yea well the plan didn't tell me what to do." I snapped back.

"You were the plan!" North said. "How can you not be able to fight?" he asked, each word seemed to make Pitch and Layla laugh harder, their laughter aggravating me and giving me a headache.

"Yea well I've only ever fought anything once and that was earlier today what do you expect? That I'm supposed to be some fighting machine?" I asked my hair beginning to flicker with anger but still did not light.

"We expected you to be able to fight Pitch." Bunny growled letting me go and hopping back to his prior position with his old friends.

"Hey guys, just leave her alone." Jack said quietly. Taking a breath as if trying to hold in his own anger. Pitch's laughter died down and he wiped a tear from his eye. Layla's laughter turned to wicked giggles until she found the control to fall silent. She placed her hands on her hips and smirked in triumph a wicked smile playing across her face, making my blood boil.

"Well I think we can all agree this is the most fun I have had in ages." Pitch said stressing the _**I**_.

"Shut up." I hissed.

"Getting angry now are we?" He asked smiling.

"Oh you don't want to see me when I'm angry." I said threateningly. This guy was seriously beginning to piss me off. Pitch just shrugged, amusement still shining in his eyes and I could tell he was drinking in every bit of my reaction.

"Either way I have no use for any of you." he said and with a wave of his arm nightmares stormed in. the room erupted into chaos, the guardians desperately tried to get out of the way. Jack followed North through a portal barely escaping the snarling mouth of a horse demon, while Tooth flew down a tunnel bunny made, he caught his boomerang and flew down, leaving it open for a few seconds for me to follow. I swerved through the crowd of monsters. Their teeth catching in my hair and pulling it every which way as I brushed through. I lit my hand on fire and began to smash my way through them. Glimpsing Pitch and Layla through the shroud of black horses before I flew full speed at the closing portal, focusing all my attention on it.

_Faster, FASTER! _I urged. _I'm gonna make it. _I thought relieved as I drew closer until something slammed into my side, sending me flying to the side. The portal closed and I felt a searing pain in my side. I immediately rolled to a crouch and clutched my side, pulling my hands away to find they were red and covered in black ash from the burn mark on my side. Ripping away at my shirt. I growled and sprang into the air to avoid a nightmare the slammed into the wall behind where I had just been. I glanced back at Pitch. He hadn't moved. I wasn't worth his time.

_Arrogant jerk _I thought bitterly and flew full speed towards him and Layla. Who stood beside him her hand still raised from launching her fireball. I smashed through a few nightmares glancing around as I went. I was trapped, correction I was trapped from the beginning the second we came close to Pitch's lair. My hands and eyes blazed and my hair flew around me. I was about to slam full speed in a fiery blaze into the boogeyman when suddenly he was gone. I felt another fireball hit my other side and I went skidding across the floor. Rolling to a stop a few yards away. I clenched my teeth and looked up as Pitch reappeared from his own shadow. The tall slender figure loomed over me and I glared up at him. Layla came up beside him, her long red hair floating in embers around her as she smirked down at me. Nothing happened for a moment, and then I was falling. It was as if the floor had just vanished below me and I sunk into the endless darkness below me. Blacking out.

I woke up a little while later to find myself in a very dim room. My mind was hazy and I tried to move, only to find myself pinned to the wall by shadows the size of tree trunks. I was completely tied down and I could only move my head. I noticed Pitch staring at me from the center of the room and my hair instantly blazed, lighting up into fire around me. I bared my teeth at him my eyes blazing pure red. I looked more demonic than legendary.

"You don't scare me with that little trick." he said simply taking a step into the dim light in front of me. I glared at him. My eyes returning to normal and lowering my head into my curly mess of normal hair. "You're pathetic." Pitch sneered yet sounded as if it delighted him. I raised my head revealing my eyes full of determination. I was weak in body but not spirit. Pitch smiled. "That's more like it. That's what should be expected by the guardian of courage."

"What did you say?" I asked suddenly. A clever smirk consumed his face.

"The guardian of courage" he repeated taking another step forward. "The last resort of the man in the moon."

"What do you mean? How do you know I'm courage?" I asked, remembering something Jack had said about having to find the center. I hadn't even had time to think of mine. Pitch boasted the next bit, walking around and lazily waving his arm motioning around.

"What rises from darkness?" he asked. "Fear." he answered proudly. "What rises from fear?" he stopped and glared at me, his dark eclipse eyes pinning me down. "courage." he spat distastefully.

"How do you know who I am?" I snarled back skeptically.

"I have been watching you, oh how we've been very careful. We've watched you since the day you were created; we knew you were form the prophecy. Yet, you end up being nothing more than a last hope and a final reaction to fear, to Me." he spat taking a few strides closer.

"I didn't rise from you." I spat back still a little confused. He threw back his head laughing obnoxiously.

"Of course you did!" he finally yelled out. "You were made when Layla's fire went astray 10 years ago in her fight with Jack Frost!" he called out. And it felt like bullets to my chest. I never thought about what happened. But the fact I was a guardian was a fact that at one point...I died. And at that thought I struggled to remain calm. "An innocent bystander yanked into the horrific story that the man in the moon has written for you." he hissed.

"You're wrong!" I called back. "I never talked to the man in the moon!"

"That's because you were a mistake!" he hissed. "Layla created you. You never asked yourself how you learned to control your powers? Why you had so many? Because Layla already trained and figured it out for you! You just freeloaded off of her. You are nothing more than a cheap imitation of a girl enhanced with _my_ power!"

"Shut up!" I screamed. Pitch smirked, smug. "I don't care how I was made." his face drooped and he observed me. "I don't care what the man in the moon said!" I yelled out rebelliously. "I'm do things because I want to. Not because somebody tells me to." I finished with a growl. Pitch and I made eye contact and if looks could kill we both would have dropped dead.

"Don't act so tough." he called back. Spitting the words like acid. "You have fears just like the rest of us."

"You're right." I said flatly. "I'm not fearless. But I am courage; I have the power to face my fears." I said raising my head high, finding pride in what I stood for.

"Courage has its limits." He replied casually.

"Courage is difficult but it will always defeat fear." I sneered. Shadows shot out from around him, three digging into the wall directly beneath me.

"So Fajra, are you ready to face your fears?" he asked walking up the shadows like steps until he was inches away from me. Both of us glaring into the others eye. I could feel the hatred in the air.

"Yes." I responded simply. Not backing away from his cold gaze. He smiled a little bit.

"I'm going to give you a little test." he said, twirling a black ball of sand in his hand, showing me. "I am going to put you to sleep, and you are going to witness all of your worst fears, fears you've faced, fears you haven't, and fears you never even knew you had. But your reactions are going to be purely of your own will... are you ready?" he asked as if I had a say.

"Do your worst." I spat. "And when I wake up I will face those fears."

"So be it." and with a snap of his fingers the ball launched into my face and everything immediately went dark, and I fell into a deep and disturbed sleep.

I opened my eyes to find I had been plunged into a strange world. Part of me knew I was asleep, but it kept fading and all I could do was believe what I saw.

Everything was really fuzzy at first until Layla appeared in front of me. Her arms were crossed and she stood lazily watching me with a smirk.

"What do you want?" I hissed. Her smile widened.

"I'm here to kill you." She said simply. I snickered.

"As if. You can try, but I guarantee you can't." she smiled.

"We'll see about that." She lunged at me, her hands and hair blazing. I tensed lighting up...but nothing happened. She hit me and sent me tumbling through the air until I slammed into the floor, rolling to a stop. I growled and looked at my hand, mortified that I couldn't light it. I was powerless. She leapt into the air above me, coming down with a flaming flying kick. I rolled out of the way narrowly avoiding the blow. I glanced back to see the shattered and scorched ground beneath her foot. I scrambled to my feet and she rushed at me. Ferociously attacking me rapidly. I ducked and dodged but was unable to fight back without my power.

At once she leapt into the air, twisting and turning until he brought a flaming foot right to my chest, sending me flying back. I gasped for breath as my back hit the wall and collapsed to the ground. I looked up at her with grit teeth.

"I told you I could do It." she said snidely, reminding me of a prep from a high school drama.

"No..." I muttered my eyesight hazy. "You-can't." the bitter taste of blood filled my mouth and leaked down my chin.

"What do you expect?" she asked. "I created you, therefore I can destroy you." she said adding a dark note to the end. "After all you're only a cheap imitation."

"Shut up!" I snarled, I tried to stand up but she placed her boot on my back, pressing me to the ground.

"Give it up, its over." she said, pulling back her hand. "Night, night." she said. "Enjoy your nightmares."

_No _I thought. _This can't be happening. _I mentally shrieked as her fist flew towards me. _That's it. _I realized. _It can't happen. _Time seemed to slow. As I remembered what had happened previously. _I am asleep...this is just one of Pitch's nightmares...just a bad dream. _I thought. _Wake up. _I ordered the fire fist only inches away now. _WAKE UP! _

I awoke with a gasp on the floor of the room I had talked to Pitch in. I took a few deep breaths lighting my hand on fire to confirm I was awake. _Oh thank God I'm awake. _I thought, relieved to have my powers back. I quickly rose to my feet and began looking for a way out. the room was blank and empty with only a single wooden door. It was locked but with 1 swift fireball I was able to break it down. I quickly raced through the halls, making my way through the endless labyrinth. The dark tunnels didn't seem to end as I hurried around, the only light coming from my hair.

"You can't escape me." Pitch's voice rang out. I turned a corner to find a dead end full of nightmare horses. My eyes went wide and I spun on my heel, dashing back the way I came as they chased me. A few select curse words racing through my head. I came across another dead end and turned to face them. They rushed at me and I transformed into a spark, flying and weaving between them all until I was behind them, I broke into a run and after a few more turns I finally found the exit leading out into the night sky. I leapt into the air, immediately flying to Tooth palace where I knew instinctively the guardians would be.

I got there in what seemed like minutes, quickly flying through the main gate and to the main handing building, greeting the guardians as I landed. I was shocked to see them look at me so upset.

"Hey guys..." I said, stopping a few feet from them. "W-what's wrong?" I stuttered seeing them glaring at me.

"There were nightmares." Tooth said looking up at me broken hearted. "They were waiting outside, they took all my fairies." she said closing her eyes mortified.

"But I didn't see any when I was leaving." I said confused, my eyes going wide and I bit my tongue realizing what Tooth meant when she said _Took. _All of their eyes shot up to me in a glare.

"Where have you been?" Santa asked his form large and intimidating as he rose to his feet, his limp and old physic back.

"The portal closed." I said my voice timid. "I was captured, Pitch put me through some test and-" Bunnymund cut me off.

"Interesting story mate." he said sarcastically hoping to attention.

"Y-you don't believe me?" I asked taking a step back.

"Why should we?" Jack said, jumping from his position on a higher ledge where he had been moping. "You show up out of the blue with the same powers as Layla, and expect us to trust you?" Jack snapped taking a few steps towards me, gripping his staff until his knuckles were whiter than usual.

"I'm telling you the truth." I pleaded.

"Prove it." Bunny said crossing his arms boomerang in hand. His eyes bore into mine, his figure almost frightening.

"G-Guys, come on." I said unable to believe what was happening.

"I think you need to leave." Tooth said her voice surprisingly strong.

"But I-"

"Ya heard her!" Bunny yelled at me, hoping closer. "Get going ya Gumby!" I stepped back, searching his eyes for their hope, but I found none.

"F-fine!" I yelled turning and running to the edge of the platform, diving off and flying up into the air. "But I swear I didn't do anything!" I yelled angrily at them, glancing at Jack before flying off. Jack took a few steps to the edge.

"Where are ya going mate?" Bunny asked.

"After her." Jack said, determined to see if I was going to Pitch. Jack caught up with me right outside Tooth kingdom where he grabbed my arm and stopped me, spinning me around to face him.

"Let go of Me." I ordered, trying and failing to yank myself free from his iron grip, something I hadn't expected from him.

"I want to know the truth." he said seriously.

"I've told you already." I said my eyes pleading for him to understand. "I was captured, I got put to sleep, I came as fast as I could. Why don't you believe me?" Jack took a slow deep breath, searching my eyes.

"You said Pitch put you to sleep right?" he asked I nodded. He yelled in frustration letting me go and flying a few feet away. "Then how do I know this isn't a trick! How do I know you're really Fajra, or that you weren't brainwashed. How do I know it's really you? How do I-" I cut him off. Pulling him in and shutting him up with a kiss, passionate and true. I pulled away, not questioning my strange action.

"Trust me." I said gently. "It's me." he nodded and smiled at me.

"I believe you."

"Well isn't that sweet." a familiar voice said. I growled, both of us turning to face Layla, floating 10 feet away from us.

"Layla." Jack growled.

"What do you want?" I called over to her. She glared at me.

"I've come to collect Jack." she said as if he were no more than an object.

"Fat chance." Jack sneered. She seemed unfazed by his refusing her and came closer, wrapping her arm around him and pulling herself close.

"h-hey!" I cried out, reaching out to hit her but it seemed as if I hit a force field and went reeling through the air. I caught myself in midair and looked up at them. Jack seemed frozen, weather it was by fear or surprise I couldn't tell. But he didn't fight back as she whispered kind empty words in her sickly sweet voice.

"Stop it!" I screamed at her, throwing fireballs regardless of Jack. She deflected them with a wave of her hand and I saw Jack's hair begin to turn black. "I said Stop it!" I repeated pronouncing every word. I tried again but the process only repeated.

"Oh shut up." she hissed at me. "Can't you see you're too late?" Jack's hair was totally black, his icy blue eyes seemed darker than the ocean and he stared at me blankly. I stared at them mortified, my heart pounding.

"No." I yelled. "NO!" I felt my heart drop to my stomach when Jack's lips twitched into a smirk, identical to Layla's.

"What's wrong Fajra?" he sneered at me. "Jealous?" my eyes were wide and I sunk a couple feet in altitude.

_No, no this can't be happening. _I thought desperately, just wanting to disappear. I heard a maniacal laugh and looked around for its source, my heart racing.

"I will admit this surprises even me." Pitch's voice rang through my mind. And I spun around searching for him, confused.

"Seriously Fajra, why would I choose you over her?" Jack asked pointing a finger at Layla. "After all, you're just a cheap imitation." My eyes went wide and I felt a pang in my chest.

And I woke up with a gasp.


	6. Challenging The Shadow King

Chapter 6

Challenging The Shadow King

_Hey guys sorry it took so long to get this chapter up. I had most of it written I seriously only had a few sentences till I finished it but I didn't like how it came out (at least I thought I didn't) so I put off writing it then I just read it and it's ok so IDK why I put it off so long LOL. Anyway here is chapter six sorry about the wait, please read and review, I hope you enjoy!_

I just sat there for a moment, shocked and unable to believe what I had dreamt, my true fears.

_No way. _I thought. _That was totally lame. I don't care about Jack like that. _Yet the image of him and Layla together still gave me Goosebumps. I growled in frustration, warming my body with fire to get rid of them. I was still pinned tightly to the wall with shadows when a disturbing thought crossed my mind. _Am I still asleep? _I shook the thought from my head. _Nope can't be...I refuse to believe it. _I stayed still for a moment, the question bugging me until I gave in, jamming my weight against the sharp edge of the shadow spear. Cringing as it drew blood, my wound quickly healing. _Alright I'm awake. _I thought with a weak smile. _But that doesn't really help my situation. _I thought with a frown. Straightening up when the door opened. I tensed, gripping my hands into fists, feeling the sharp shadows dig into my skin as I moved.

"What do you want?" I spat at Pitch who simply smiled in return.

"Have you learned a thing or two about fear?" he asked me, reminding me of my last embarrassing nightmare. My eyes went wide and I glared at him. He snickered.

"Let me go!" I demanded.

"Aww, trying to change the subject are we?" he said as if to a child.

"Release me!" I screamed.

"Now, now Fajra calm down." Pitch said still as if talking to a child.

"Let me g-"

"THAT'S ENOUGH!" he bellowed, a dark aura rising around him as I fell abruptly silent. After a moment of silence he continued in a calm voice. "Fear isn't as easy to conquer as you thought is it?" he taunted stepping around me. His shadow passed me, stopping to pat my head like a sad little dog while he kept walking.

"I don't care!" I cried out, setting my hair ablaze. "You can't hold me forever! You can't you can't!" I screamed. "I'm going to find a way to defeat you Pitch!" I growled. "Make no mistake about that!"

"Shut up!" Pitch yelled at me. "You're like a broken record do you ever talk about anything else?" he said angrily. I glared at him.

"You want me to stop talking?" I asked snidely, "consider it done."

"What's that supposed to mean?" he asked. But I didn't respond. "Really? Have you nothing better to give? I, the lord of darkness and shadows, than the cold shoulder?" he asked arrogantly but I didn't reply. He mumbled something along the lines of frustrating little brat before storming towards the door. "If you want to be silent, than be alone." the door slammed shut and I found myself alone. Light streaming in from the windows above.

_Why would he put windows like that in a dungeon? _I wondered. _They let in so much light; shouldn't he want it dark in here for his shadows? _I paused. No light a shadows. My hair flared up and I took a deep breath spitting a ball of fire at the windows and repeating until the windows were scorched dark. I was swallowed by darkness and was dropped to the hard tile floor, feeling the pain just through my knees as I landed. I rolled my shoulders as I stood up, making sure I didn't break, or pull anything.

The entire room was officially pitch black and I had to use my hair to find my way around the room, groping around the darkness for the door. I wasn't surprised to find it unlocked, Pitch had way too much confidence in his shadows to bother locking it. I found myself within the labyrinth of darkness that was Pitch's lair, however it was not like my dream, or even like when I had entered with the guardians. It was a single hallway, completely dark except for my own glowing. I made my way quickly down the hall, opening the door to find an identical hallway, longer this time. It repeated and after the 10th door I had had enough. I yelled angrily into the darkness. Tired of Pitch's tricks.

"Frustrated?" a voice asked from behind me. I spun around but couldn't find Pitch in the darkness.

"Yes now let me out!" I exclaimed, his laugh echoed around me as if coming from everywhere at once.

"Such a weak little newborn."

"I am not weak!" I called out, childishly defensive. I launch fire through the air, it flashed and I glimpsed Pitch's pale face but when I attacked, he was gone. His laugh filled the air behind me and I growled, knowing I would never catch him if he kept melting into the shadows. "Pitch, you cowered! Stand and fight!" Pitch just chuckled.

"I'm the cowered am I?" he asked sounding amused. "But tell me Fajra, in your trembling voice. Are you afraid of the dark?" I spun around to find myself inches away from Pitch and his halberd made of black sand. Almost without thinking I dived back, the blade of the weapon flying only centimeters above my head. I scrambled to my feet, my flame brighter now until the room was illuminated in a dim glow. Fireballs flew as I raced down the hall around Pitch, avoiding him swing by swing.

The dimensions of the hall were different. It was as if the room had warped around me as he appeared, the walls of shadow receding as far as we needed. Anything can be hidden within darkness, and Pitch played on that. What was once a small narrow hallway was now a full seized bland black room, the walls blended into the floor and ceiling as if there were no boundaries. I used my flare to light my way and ducked and dodged, avoiding Pitch's attacks. My heart raced as I slid out of the halberd's way.

_This is SO unfair. _I thought almost jealous. I was across the room in a heartbeat, turning to face him I found myself cornered by what seemed like indestructible, invisible walls wherever Pitch needed them. He raised the axe like weapon and I turned into a spark in the air, flickering past him to safety avoiding the no doubt deadly swing. I turned into a spark again; ready to flicker away when he hit me with the side of the blade. Knocking me out of the air. I hit the floor, transforming and landing in a sitting position against the wall. I rolled my neck, sore from impact.

"What do you say Fajra?" Pitch asked, a large grin plastered across his face as he raised his weapon a final time. "Are you afraid?" I thought for a moment. Panting as I tried to catch my breath before I died.

"Yes," I answered. "But not of you." I said looking up at him determined. "And I'm not afraid of the dark." I answered. "I'm afraid of what's in it...are you?" my hair flickered to stillness, I took a deep breath to relax my body as well as my flame, the room falling totally dark, the last thing I saw was Pitch's surprised face as he scrambled before I was taken by darkness.

I climbed to my feet quickly. Covered by the darkness as I ran past where he was, unsure if he was still there.

"You can travel through the shadows and darkness can't you?" I asked into the air, greeted by silence. "But if a tree falls in a forest and no one is there to hear it does it make a sound? Can you materialize when there is no light to see you? Can a shadow exist in darkness?" the room was uneasily quite, as if in scorn of me as I felt my hand wrap around a door, weather created by my mind or not it was a door. "Goodbye Pitch, nice talking to you." I yanked it open, and the room flooded with bright golden sunlight. I glimpsed Pitch grimace under it, but I slipped out the door, feeling rejuvenated in the warm glorious sun. I stepped out onto an ice covered pond. Swinging and stumbling as I tried not to fall. I turned around to see the remains of an old bed frame above a well. I was still amazed, realizing that it must have been the hallway I had charged from. Pitch's labyrinth could certainly drive someone crazy, especially looking at it from a point of logic, it just didn't work.

I took a deep breath, it was over, at least for now, no more hallways or tunnels, or rooms or Pitch attacking from the shadows. I was safe in the warm sun. I turned away when I heard the bed frame crack. Spinning around I saw a flash of orange light and signed wood as Layla emerged in front of the hole.

_You've gotta be kidding me! _I mentally exclaimed, cursing my horrid luck. Layla grinned, walking towards me with an evil smirk; the ice didn't seem to trouble her balance.

"Hello Fajra." she greeted bitterly.

"Layla." I sneered in return.

"So you've escaped Pitch, quite a feat for a newborn." she snapped. Getting closer.

"I'm not a newborn." I hissed, standing up straight to face her. After a moment of silence she said.

"I hear I'm one of your fears." she smirked but I shook my head and snickered.

"Don't flatter yourself. I'm not afraid of you." I defended, locking gazes with her dead cruel eyes.

"Really? But remakes are never as good as the original." she smirked; I glared my eyes like daggers.

"Look at it this way...you were just the prototype." her hair flashed, her fists burning as she powered up. I stepped back. "Layla don't."

"If you're not afraid of me you will fight me." she argued. Taking a step forward, the heat blistering off of her.

"No." I urged her to stop as I backed away careful of my footing.

"What's wrong?" she asked. "Afraid?"

"Layla I'm warning you." I said, seeing the ice crack beneath her feet, but she didn't seem to notice. I saw the fish dash around in the icy water through the thinning ice.

"Weak, that's all you are." she took one more step.

"Wise." I responded with a bit of a smile, as the ice let out a loud crack and she looked down, realizing her folly, immediately powering down. But it was too late, and she dropped like a stone to the bottom of the pond. I turned, slipping and sliding as I raced away from the spreading crack. The gaping hole spreading. I was almost to the bank...when I tripped. I slid to a stop. Turning back to see the crack right beside me. I braced myself. Preparing for the bitter cold. There was a harsh wind and silence. I opened my eyes, seeing the ice freshly coated and thick. I looked through it, seeing Layla suspended in the cold water below, her hair fanning out in a hazy red inside the dark blue. I looked up as Jack Landed beside me, and I could do no more than stare at him in grateful awe as he floated down like an angel.

"Are you ok?" he asked, reaching down a hand to help me up. I nodded, thanking him as I climbed to my feet. "What happened to you? You weren't with us when we entered Tooth palace, and you didn't come back all night." I glanced around, sunlight bright around me. He was right I was horribly late.

"I'm sorry." I said. "But it's a long story." he nodded.

"Later then, when we are with the others." I nodded, smiling up at him, captured by his blue eyes.

"Is she going to be alright?" I asked, staring down at Layla, trapped under the ice floating, in the water beneath us. He nodded.

"I think so; if she's a myth of fire she should be immortal like the rest of us." the thought made me shiver, immortal. What did that really mean? Never ending fame? Or the loss of everything, watching as the world slowly changes and destroys itself until I am the last thing left. I didn't have long to think about it. A loud cracking sound ripped me from my thoughts as the ice around us cracked and the water below the ice heated to a boil, the ice melting. The area around Layla turning red and orange and yellow, almost like lava. Layla burst from the water, her hair sopping wet but orange, and no matter how hard she tried she couldn't ignite, just heat up.

"YOU!" she screamed angrily, blinded by wrath. Quickly making her way towards us. "This is entirely your fault!" she screamed, I could see the fire flash in her eyes, the flickering at her hand, but she was unable to form an attack.

"Oh I would _love _to take credit for this." I admitted with a chuckle. "But unfortunately no, you're the one who walked onto _ice _while in full flame." I said, placing a hand on my hip and smiling smugly. Not ashamed of my amusement. She glared at me with her red demonic eyes, her long, red hair sopping wet over her face she looked almost like an angry wild animal, almost, but even her perfect body was slumped, her smooth hair was a tangled mess and her ruby eyes demonic and wild and she didn't seem like much of a threat anymore.

"Shut up!" she hissed, as she lunged at me, ready to take me on with her bare hands. But Jack lifted his staff, using it to push her and send her sliding back.

"Well it's been fun." I told her with a smile. "But we've got to go." I said simply as Jack and I leapt into the air.

"Get back here!" she screamed at me. She tried to fly but the water seemed to weigh her down. Immobilizing all of her powers including flying.

"Catch ya later!" Jack called out with a smirk, "and here, have a souvenir." he said, tossing a ball of ice at her. It landed at her feet and cracked the glass. She screamed as she fell back into the water, she caught hold of the surface and held tight to keep herself afloat.

"I WILL GET YOU FOR THIS!" She screamed. Her red bangs falling into her face in defeat. I smiled up at Jack, both of us laughing. We had just made the most progress against Pitch and Layla in a day than the guardians had in a century, we were actually able to challenge his authority and win, and as if as a sign I knew the time of rebellion, was near.


	7. Randevú

Chapter 7

Randevú

_It's short, I know and I am sorry. I haven't been in a good enough mood to write more. Plus I like the ending line. I hope you enjoy please read and review they help inspire me to write and they always lift my spirits. I hope you enjoy and I just want to thank everyone for all of the support I have been getting for this story it means the world to me thanks. _

Jack and I arrived at Tooth Palace, a beautiful golden castle in the clouds beautiful artwork filled the walls of the mountain surrounding it, and a waterfall fell gently into a pond creating a mist that it seem majestic. The palace was a alight with the fluttering of wings that I would have mistaken for butterflies had I not had a closer look at the tooth fairies earlier. They landed around me gently, resting on my shoulders and nuzzling me like small animals, somehow knowing I had helped set them free. Most of them wavered when they flew, some of their wings were tattered, and it was obvious it was going to take some time before they could return to normal. Jack turned back to me, having realized I had slowed in astonishment. He grabbed my hand and pulled me along eager to meet up with the other guardians again.

"Fajra!" Tooth declared, flinging herself into a hug, her wings fluttering excitedly behind her.

"Oi, there ya are mate, ya had us worried." Bunny said, playing lazily with his boomerang.

"Aye, what happened to you?" Santa asked, wrapping me in a large hug as soon as Tooth let go.

"We were so worried, we thought you were hurt, then we sent jack to go look for you, we waited until daylight but you didn't come and were just about to go looking ourselves but here you are!" Tooth said faster than I could even attempt to follow. Her purple eyes buzzed around the room happily, almost as if she was trying to look at all of the fairies at once. Her eyes were...different, all of them were different. Everyone seemed filled with new life, new hope for the future, for the downfall of Pitch.

"Aye, Tooth give the girl a breather." Bunny said with a laugh, causing Tooth to blush in embarrassment a little. "Now Fajra, tell us what happened." I looked at each of them in turn, taking a deep breath and preparing myself, my mind searching for ways to cut out my nightmares.

"I didn't make it to your portal." I told Santa, stating the obvious first. "I was captured by Pitch and imprisoned somewhere within the labyrinth." I said.

"How did you escape?" Tooth asked me her eyes wide with horror as she tried to imagine what it was like. I just shrugged.

"Loopholes." I told them with a bit of a smirk. "Pitch is a shadow and can maneuver through the shadows. But there are no shadows in complete darkness. Hence he melts and though his presence is still there, he cannot become physical enough to harm you." The guardians stared at me almost amazed.

"Well we can remember that for our next fight." Santa said almost as if filing the information away in his mind.

"Yup." I said. "After that I was on an ice lake and Jack helped me out with Layla." they all nodded understanding.

"So, what's our next plan?" Jack asked. "When is our next fight?" Bunny sighed.

"I don't know if there will be a next fight mate." he said. "Fajra didn't know what to do when we brought her to Pitch..." Jack looked at Bunny almost horrified and I looked down guiltily.

_This is my fault..._I realized. Had I done something when we faced Pitch maybe they wouldn't be so defeated...no one said anything for a moment, Santa looked like he wanted to but couldn't think of anything to say.

"No." I said suddenly to no one in particular, my voice hard and firm. "It's not over." I looked up at them, fire in my eyes. "We have to keep going."

"Oh honey I'm not sure we can do that." Tooth said sweetly, and I could hear the sorrow in her voice.

"We have to. Look at us." I demanded, waving my arms to the palace. "We filled it up we re-powered the Tooth fairy. We retained baby teeth. And look at you." I said pointing at all of them. "Just a few days ago you were all weak, and hurt, Tooth couldn't fly and Santa you could barely lift your sword, and don't get me started on Bunny." I said with a smirk that he returned with a frown. "There are teeth all around the world that you are starting to collect, children are starting to believe again. We've returned Tooth and her palace to its former glory. We can't just give up now? We're so much closer to defeating Pitch than we've been in a hundred years." a smile pierced Jack's lips and he smiled at me encouragingly.

"Well what would you have us do next mate?" Bunny asked. I stared at him a moment, thinking before smirking.

"We're going to take back Easter."


	8. Easter

Chapter 8

Easter

_Hey guys! I am sorry It took so long to update. I am off school but I had NO inspiration or resolve or enthusiasm for writing…sorry! But today it hit me and I had an urge to write because I felt bad leaving you all hanging. Anyway, sorry for the wait and also I had NO idea how I was going to bring back Easter but I hope you guys like this cause I thought of it earlier and kind of liked it so here you go if you have any ideas on what you want to happen leave it in the reviews and I will consider it. Thank you for reading and please review _

"How do we do that?" Bunny asked, his ears perked up and at attention but his voice was weary and cautious. I looked around.

"Well first...we need to paint your eggs."

"But all my eggs were smashed 100 years ago..." he said doubting me.

"Then we're gonna need to collect some." I said simply.

"That's a mighty lot of eggs to gather in one night." I smiled at him. "What...what's that look for?" I turned to Tooth.

"Hey Tooth...can we borrow your baby fairies?" a grin slowly spread across their faces and within minutes baby fairies were swarming towns by the army, taking eggs from anywhere they could find, raiding refrigerators, chicken coops, and even a few grocery stores. The people would be able to restock eventually.

"Be careful with that! Oh not so fast! Oh please don't drop it!" Tooth cried out as the fairies carried the eggs to Bunny's rabbit hole, swerving and turning due to the extra weight they were carrying. Bunny had a large smile plastered across his face, watching the landfill with eggs. Everyone was busy painting eggs; even North's yetis were doing their share. I sat atop one of the Easter statues, staring out at everything as the eggs flowed smoothly down the line, painted in a matter of minutes. Jack sat down beside me and smiled.

"You're not helping?" he asked. I just shrugged.

"I was watching for any blocks but it's all running so smoothly..." I said almost amazed. Jack smiled.

"Yup, I think we can do it, what about you?" I nodded. "It seemed impossible but...I think we are actually getting somewhere, and once this is done the teeth can help deliver them." there was a high pitched whistle and Santa waved to me, calling me down. I leaped off the giant statue to him. "What's up?"

"Everything is going along fine, but..." he started, trailing off.

"But... but what?" I urged him on.

"Last time we did this Pitch attacked and we weren't able to fend him off and right now we really cannot afford for him to smash a single egg." I nodded.

"Gotcha, I will go stand guard." North smiled and placed a shoulder on Jack's shoulder.

"You should go with her in case Pitch brings Layla. No one can fight them both at once." Jack shook his head. Santa's voice turned serious as he looked at us both, his eyes sharp. "Watch each other's back and for god sake be careful."

"Don't worry North." Jack smiled.

"We've got this." I finished as we both turned, jumping onto the statue before kicking off and flying up to the entrance of Easter island. We sat alone for a moment, staring out into the night.

"So are you sure you can handle it if they come?" Jack asked me skeptically, glancing at me from the corner of his eye.

"I wouldn't have volunteered if I didn't think I was ready." I said defensively looking at him a little offended. "Why? Do _you _not think I am ready?" Jack shrugged, looking away.

"It's just that this time yesterday you said 'you didn't know how'." I stiffened remembering the first time I tried to fight Pitch. I crossed my arms and looked up into the stars. "So my question for you...do you think you're ready?" I didn't reply for a moment, I just gazed up at the few stars that shone dimly through the dark gloom that had covered the night sky since before I can remember, there was no moon, there was never a moon.

"I have to be."

"No you don't. If you're not ready we can wait. It's pointless for us to fight if you just get captured." he said to me, his voice rising. "I'm not asking if you have to be if you will be I'm asking are you ready now?" I closed my eyes, thinking of when I encountered Pitch and Layla last. It wasn't like the first time. There was something different; something had changed...something in me. Upon fighting Layla I had been calmer, maybe even finding humor in it.

"Yes." I finally said. "I am ready." Jack looked at me, his blue eyes piercing mine, until they slowly softened.

"alright." he said, before sighing. We waited in silence for a while. When suddenly my eyes went wide and I rose to my feet.

"Do you hear that?" I exclaimed. Jack looked up at me, his eyes conveying his confusion.

"No." he looked around.

"It's completely silent." I started looking around.

"Unnaturally silent." Jack added catching up to what I was saying, rising to his feet and taking a defensive position. "Even the wind has stopped." he observed. My body stiffened and I stared directly ahead of me, the forest was dark and cruelly silent, but my eyes were set, waiting for a sign.

"They're here." I said, just as a ball of orange appeared at the heart of the darkness, growing as the flames consumed the trees.

"Layla..." Jack said looking around. "Pitch can't be far behind."

"I'll take care of Layla." I volunteered taking a step forward, but Jack grabbed me by the shoulder.

"No, you can't." he looked at me and I was almost hurt by his lack of confidence. "Don't you get it? Normally you two would make the perfect fight, but not here, not in a forest. You might be able to control her fire, but it's still a fire in the woods." he tapped his staff on the ground. "I'll go, I can put out the flames with my snow and ice, you stay here and keep watch for Pitch." I nodded and watched him run away, disappearing into the darkness and flames.

(Jack's view)

I ran through the woods, swerving and ducking through the barrage of trees. The heat increased as the flames drew closer and I raised my staff, sending a wave of ice and snow over the flames, extinguishing them, finding myself face to face with Layla.

"Oh Jack." Layla said surprised to see me. "It's nice to see you for a change." she said.

_So they were expecting Fajra to challenge Layla. _I thought to myself, gathering as much information on the trap as I could.

"Nice to know you missed me." I said with a laugh.

"I have got to admit I would rather see you than that girl any day of the week." She said, a wicked smile crossing her face. I smiled and snickered, poking the layer of snow at my feet with my staff.

"Funny cause I'd rather see her." Layla's smile twisted into a frown.

"You're going to regret that." she hissed "The imposer doesn't deserve you defending her." her snarled, her eyes sharpening into daggers. I looked at her puzzled.

"What do you mean _imposter?_" I asked, raising an eyebrow. She smiled, tensing into a fighting position, her hands and hair beginning to blaze with fire.

"Why don't you come over here and find out?"

(Fajra's view)

Jack disappeared into the forest and I saw the light of the fire flicker and dim before blazing up again a moment later. I waited, every muscle in my body was tense and my senses were heightened beyond belief as I waited anxiously for Pitch to arrive.

"Look who it is." a voice called out from the darkness.

"Hello Pitch." I replied snidely into the nothingness as he appeared from the shadows in front of me.

"Why don't you cut your losses now and surrender?" he asked me with a smile as he cocked his head to the side.

"Why don't you just save us some time and go home?" he smirked, taking a step towards me.

"You really can't believe you can defeat me, do you?" he asked, his image flickering before reappearing at my side. I looked up at him, my gaze unwavering.

"You honestly don't believe your reign could last forever, do you?" he snickered.

"Of course it will. Nothing is more powerful than fear!" he said, growing, until he loomed like a giant above me. I didn't hesitate, and my resolve did not waver as I responded.

"And from fear, rises courage." I leapt into the air, hands and hair blazing as I launched a fireball at him, twisting in the air and kicking fire at him like soccer balls. He raised a giant hand, stopping them with his palm, they seared his hand and he grimaced looking down curiously at his hand before pretending it was nothing.

"What did you plan to do once the humans gained courage?" I asked, launching another fireball at him. "It starts with one." I told him, taking a deep breath. "Then it spreads like fire." I breathed out a ray of fire at him, unleashing everything I had, dozens of fireballs and a flame thrower. Pitch shrunk down to regular seize, dodging my attacks as best he could. I fell to the ground, looking around when he dissolved into the shadows; I breathed deeply trying to catch my breath as Pitch came out of the darkness behind me, swinging his halberd at me. I ducked, and the blade sailed only inches above my head. I swirled around to face him, avoiding another swing of the axe. He raised the axe high above his head but I took the opening and pummeled him with fireballs, sending him flying back into a tree.

"It's over Pitch." I said as I glared at him, limp against the tree. He snapped his head up to look at me, his eclipse eyes shining with excitement.

"Oh I don't think it is." someone stepped out of the trees, carrying something heavy. Peering through the darkness my eyes went wide when the figure stepped into the light. It was Layla, and she was carrying Jack who was unconscious on her shoulder.

"Let him go!" I screamed. Taking a step forward, freezing when Pitch raised a hand in warning. Layla stared at me smugly as she shifted Jack in her arms so I could see his face.

"Ah," Pitch said, waving a ball of black sand in his hand. "Now Layla, what do you say we add another one to the team?" he asked. Layla smiled evilly, nodding. And Pitch lowered the Sand to Jack's face.

"Don't touch him!" I yelled charging forward. Layla quickly heaved jack into a sitting position on a tree branch before lunging at me, twisting my arms and holding me back. "Let go of me!" I screamed, my hands lit up as I smashed her with fire. Her own fire encased her hands and stopped mine, burning my wrists as well. I grimaced and turned my attention back to Jack.

"Trying to protect your boyfriend?" Pitch sneered my face went red but I yelled anyway.

"He's not my boyfriend. Just leave him alone!" Pitch snickered, and the black sand curled around Jack's cheek, slowly melting into his hair, beginning to dye it to an unnatural black color that spread like paint dropped in water.

"STOP IT!" I screamed, at the top of my lungs. startling both of them, Pitch turned his attention to me and when I looked up at him my eyes were consumed in flames as I pulled myself free of Layla's grasp, dousing her in fire before charging at Pitch like a bull on a jetpack. Layla grabbed me from behind, jabbing me in the back of the neck with her fiery hand, causing me to stumble and my fire to diminish as she pulled me back into a tight hold, she was in full flame, the very heat that emanated from her burned me.

"Now stay down." Pitch hissed at me.

"Really I think someone needs to cool down." a voice said. Pitch spun around to Jack who was awake and shot Pitch in the face with ice from his staff before jumping from the tree and dousing Layla and I with a wave of snow and ice. Reaching out a hand he pulled me from the pile of snow both of us turning our attention to Pitch who raised both hands in surrender.

"Alright." he said calmly. "I know when I am beat." nothing moved for a moment then with a gust of wind Pitch fired a storm of black sand it ruffled our hair and consumed Layla, and when it cleared both of them were gone. Jack and I looked at each other, laughing to ourselves, drunk on our victory. He shook the black sand from his once again snow white hair. We turned our backs to the quiet forest and made our way back to Bunny and the others, knowing we would return Easter.


End file.
